A DAMNING review into the latest death of a vulnerable young child previously known to Coventry’s social services has prompted calls for a leading councillor to resign.

Labour councillors have called for the resignation of Conservative cabinet member for children, learning and young people, councillor John Blundell, following four deaths in three years.

It follows Tuesday’s publication of a Serious Case Review which concluded the child protection agencies could have prevented the death of 23-month-old Jodie Ann Brown in a house fire in Hillfields in July last year. Her mother, Michelle Brown, had left her home alone for four hours and was jailed for seven and a half years for “causing or allowing her death”.

A history of abuse and neglect of Jodie Ann’s brother and sisters was known to the authorities including social workers, health workers and family court workers.

Social workers had drawn up a support plan for the children, but had failed to adequately carry it out, the review concluded. It made 19 recommendations for improvements to prevent further deaths and injuries, including better joint working between the agencies and more staff training.

As the Telegraph recently revealed, three other Serious Case Reviews published last June into three other family deaths, including two young children, made similar recommendations, yet a quarter of them have still not been carried out.

Coun Lynette Kelly, the Labour group’s spokesperson for children’s services, said yesterday: “Councillor Blundell is the person responsible for children’s services in Coventry. He should take responsibility for what has been going on in his department while he has been in charge. He should stand down immediately.

“Conservative councillors are happy to take credit when things go well. But as soon as things go badly they hide away and leave council officers to take the blame. Things can’t go much more wrong than the death of a child.”

She also attacked the Conservatives for being slow in setting up new multi-disciplinary teams of family workers roving the city to support vulnerable children, to be partly funded by the closure of children’s clubs.

“This death was a tragedy and I will be working with [children’s services boss] Colin Green to do everything possible to implement our strategies with extra funding to mitigate the risk of this happening again.

“There were failings identified across all the agencies but Labour councillors don’t mention that. I’m confident I have the full backing of my party.”